Document Creation Workflow
The Foundation has two key objectives for the technical documentation Wiki: * to be a comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date resouce for the Symbian community * to allow and encourage members of the Symbian community to contribute to the community knowledgebase. To achieve these two objectives the Wiki must be easy for contributors to contribute to yet readers must have confidence that information is correct. The latter can only be achieved if the reader is confident that the information has been written and/or reviewed by someone who is an authority on the subject matter. The workflow described here attempts to meet these criteria by indicating the status and maturity of each document. As a contributor you can help the process by writing a little about yourself in your '''User: page. Unlike Wikipedia we do not require references and citations for all of our information so it's a great help for the reader to know which organisation you work for and what your role is, whether you've written Symbian applications or helped to create Symbian devices, and something of your background.' Wanted Page The easiest way to create a page in the Wiki is to edit an existing page and create a link to a page title like this New Page Title. The Wiki will automatically create a red link like this New Page Title. When you click on the red link the Wiki will automatically open a new page for you to start writing. You now have two options depending on your circumstances: # You can stop right now without even starting to create the page. The Wiki will add your new title to the . # You can create the page as a stub, with an outline of what you think should be on it. You can do this whether you think that you'll contribute some more or not. To mark your page as a stub include the stub template at the top like this . (Note: you can add a comment to the stub template like this . We check the lists of and stubs regularly. We might be able to help or to ask someone in the community to help by contributing to the page. As a member of the Symbian community you can check the lists too. If you think that you help by contributing to or writing a page please do. Under Construction The next stage in the work flow is Under Construction. One of the features of a Wiki is that pages are edited on-line. Each time you save your work it visible to everyone! If you chose to work off-line you might return to the document and find that someone else has edited it. If you would like some time and space to work in you can mark the page Under Construction by using the template. '''If you see a page marked as Under Construction please do not edit it!' If you would like to comment on a page which is under construction please use the comment... feature at the bottom of the page. (If you are writing a new page from scratch you may, of course, bypass the Stub stage and move directly to Under Construction) You can use the template to indicate that you have completed your contribution, or your current contribution, and that the document is still incomplete. You may edit a document that is marked Under Community Construction. You may simply edit it or you may change the state to Under Construction if you want time and space to make substantial additions. Please be sensitive if you change the state from Under Community Construction to Under Construction. Remember that other contributors may also be working on the document. For Technical Review When you consider that a document that is under construction is ready for review you can change the status to For Technical Review by including the template . The technical review stage exists to give readers confidence in the content by assuring them that someone who knows confirms that it is what it claims to be. Updates and changes can be made to Wiki pages at any time so facts and technical details can be added & updated, and errors corrected at any time. In many cases the history page of a document is a good indicator that it has been read, and therefore reviewed, by enough people to give it credance. For a brand new document, however, the technical peer review is essential to provide the same credance. If you perform, or are asked to perform, a technical review you may correct and edit the document yourself or you may add comments. At the end of the review you have four options: # You may decide that the document is technically correct in breadth and depth (i.e. it is what it claims to be). If so, you may remove the template. If you are concerned about the quality of writing or formatting you may add to request that the page is reviewed by a copy editor. # You may decide that the document is technically correct but lacks breadth or depth (i.e. it is not what it claims to be). In this case add the template . Please add a comment stating what you think is still required. # You may decide that the document is technically inadequate and that further construction is required. In this case add . Please add a comment or contact the author to explain your concerns. # You may decide that you are unable to perform a thorough review of all of the content. In this case leave the template in place and add a comment explaining what still needs to be done. Note: If you have a serious concern about the content of a document, or the competence of the contributor, please contact someone in the Technical Communications team. Further guidelines about reviewing articles can be found . Content Requested The state is used to indicate that a page is technically correct and peer reviewed, but that the content does not have sufficient breadth or depth. In other words, readers may believe what it says, but will probably consider that it does not meet their expectations. This state is different from Under Community Construction because it indicates that the content has been peer-reviewed and approved. To Copy Edit This state is independant of the technical review process and exists to highlight issues of writing and formatting style and quality. The Symbian community is spread across the globe and many members are not native English speakers. If you're not a native English speaker it's not easy to write good English and it's not easy to understand poor English. If you would like your document to be copy edited, or feel that a document would benefit from copy editing but do not wish to do it yourself, add the template. Copy editing means changing the text and formatting. It must not change the technical content of a page. In some cases, however, editing may be required to remove confusion or ambiguity. If something is ambiguous please post a comment or contact the author. Q&A If you have any questions about the Document Creation Workflow and the various document states, please add them here. What should I do if I write an article but need help from the community to review it? Add the template to the top of the document. This is an explicit indication that you would like someone to review your article. What should I do if I find an article that I think needs fixing? You have several options depending on what needs fixing, your knowledge and the time that you have available: * You could fix the article yourself, especially if the status is Under Community Construction. * You could add a comment explaining what you think is wrong. We keep an eye on the comments that people add. * You could add the template to the top of the document if you feel that it is appropriate. * You could add the template if you feel that it is appropriate. You may place this at the top or where you feel that the missing content should go. * You could add the template if the problems are related to the language or the formatting. Whatever you do, please do not do it anonymously. Please write something about yourself in your User page. What should I do if I want to request an article but am unable to write it? Please create a Stub page. You can find instructions here. Please put in as much guidance as you can. What should I do if nobody has responded to my request for assistance? We'll try to highlight documents that need attention to the relevant people. At the time of writing we have yet to implement an automated mechanism for doing the highlighting and we have yet to formalise ownership for all of our content categories. We're working on both. In the meantime you may contact someone in the Technical Communications Team Category:Help Document Creation